


the man (behind the throne)

by ShippingEverything



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, Gen, Introspection, normal stuff, sitting on your ex-best friends throne..., spoilers to ep 9. obviously., thinking abt the past and the future...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25587157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingEverything/pseuds/ShippingEverything
Summary: Calroy remembers walking in step with Amethar as the soon-to-be King of Candia returned home after the war, seeing it for the first time and being spellbound; all over Calorum there had been destruction and devastation, loss and heartbreak, but standing there as dawn slipped in and the sunlight was refracted into a million dizzyingly beautiful shades, it was easy to feel like he’d stumbled into the realm of something more powerful than he could ever hope to be.or: the throne room is the heart of a castle
Relationships: Calroy Cruller & Amethar Rocks
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	the man (behind the throne)

**Author's Note:**

> brennan said "calroy doesn't see himself as a traitor" and "i think power by kanye is a good song for calroy" and "the drums from all of the lights would kick in as the banners of house cruller unfurl on castle candy" and thought that i WASN'T going to go absolutely bonkers? ridiculous of him. 
> 
> anyway! this is probably the only canon-compliant thing i will ever write for coc... this cake man lives in my head Rent Free and i cannot get rid of him. title is a cliche but ALSO is specifically inspired by run the jewels' Lie, Cheat, Steal
> 
> please enjoy!

The throne room is the heart of a castle. Excepting the entry hall, it’s the first room visitors to Castle Candy see, it’s where nobility and commoners alike first lay eyes on the all-powerful King of Candia; every bit of its design is intentional, from the seven-foot-tall stained glass windows decorated with swords and flowers and twisted candies in varying shades of purple to the crystalline rock candy moldings on the elegant pink stone walls. It’s built, to the smallest detail, to inspire awe.

Propaganda is a crucial thing. House Rocks needs to be magnificent enough for people to believe that the yolk of royalty belongs on their shoulders, that the House Rocks _deserves_ to be in power, and the throne room works as a silent affirmation of that. Calroy remembers walking in step with Amethar as the soon-to-be King of Candia returned home after the war, seeing it for the first time and being spellbound; all over Calorum there had been destruction and devastation, loss and heartbreak, but standing there as dawn slipped in and the sunlight was refracted into a million dizzyingly beautiful shades, it was easy to feel like he’d stumbled into the realm of something more powerful than he could ever hope to be. Luckily -- _hah!_ \-- for Calroy, the feeling wore off when Amethar turned to him, unhappy and wide-eyed, and said _“Cal, would you mind helping me redecorate? It’s just that this is all my dad’s stuff. I can’t- I need to…. You get it, right? You always understand me.”_ Before Donetta and the war and Amethar and the Castle, Calroy never owned anything that hadn’t already gone through at least two of his brothers, but Amethar easily handed him the power of the King’s coffers, offered to spend more money than Calroy’s mother saw in the entirety of her life to do something as mundane _interior design_.

The Rocks, Calroy has discovered in these twenty years, are no more worthy than anyone else, no better than an urchin off the street; they’re just luckier. Calroy has never been lucky a day in his life, lastborn son of a weak-willed, soft-hearted man and a woman who regretted leaving her Ceresian roots for something as fleeting as love. His father was taken by sickness before Calroy was aged ten and his mother taught her children that nothing in the world is worth settling for, carved ambition into the very marrow of their bones and sent them out.

Calroy has always been the most like his mother.

Once, he had hated the plush carpeting and delicately carved busts, the elaborate paintings and the gold detailing that adorned the throne room, on principle because excessive, unappreciated opulence had never settled well with him, but Calroy is beginning to think that everything seems a bit different when one sits upon the Candy Throne. Then, Calroy had been disgusted by the irreverence, but now, the throne room is empty and dim, seemingly cavernous when lit by the single lantern held by Calroy’s single Ceresian guard. Now, Calroy swirls his wine -- _Caramelinda’s_ wine, the expensive one she imported from Fructera because it reminded her of her youth, the stuff she never shared with Calroy, not once in twenty years. Calroy remembers having to warn visiting dignitaries about how Castle Candy was never truly silent, how House Rocks was so inclined to action that they couldn’t keep still or quiet even in the small hours of the night. He had mastered how to pitch his voice perfectly into ringing like a joke, coaxed laughs out of lords and ladies even as he offered earplugs, but it had always bothered Calroy; imagine being at the top through no effort of your own and restlessly trying to escape from it. Castle Candy isn’t the seat of House Rocks anymore, though, and it’s especially obvious right now as the whole of the Castle sleeps, as it is blessedly, beautifully silent.

Calroy still has problems -- crusaders in the south, dissidents in the east, whatever little game that Plumbeline and Belizabeth are playing in Comida -- but, for now, Calroy of House Cruller, current controller of Castle Candy, sips his wine and enjoys the quiet. He’s spent twenty years clawing his way here, it’s only right that he takes the time to enjoy the view.

**Author's Note:**

> all i do these days is write drabbles huh? well! i hope you liked it! comments, kudos, bookmarks, etc give me more power, thank you so so much for reading!
> 
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